Taking chances, taking charge: a report on a drug abuse intervention conceived, created and controlled by a community

The high visibility and expensive federal efforts in the "war on drugs" has led to few victories. Substantial evidence suggests that the basic failure of the federal "war on drugs" is the result of long-standing reliance on traditional approaches based upon criminal and medicalized interventions. The present program, reported here, emphasizes a community up, rather than a social planning, hierarchy down, approach. Community creation has led to community control and a sense of hope that this intractable problem, at least in Berkeley, can be effectively controlled.